1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus that conducts measurement processing on a measurement object based on images picked up by an electronic endoscope.
The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-020906 filed on Jan. 31, 2007, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-175158 filed on Jul. 3, 2007, the details of which are incorporated herein.
2. Background Art
Sometimes, turbine blade edges or compressor blade edges of gas turbines mainly used in aircraft are subject to losses due to foreign bodies. The size of loss is a decision-making factor of blade replacement, so its inspection is very important. Under this circumstance, conventional endoscope apparatuses approximated loss edges of turbine blades or compressor blades by virtual curves and virtual points and measured loss sizes based on the approximated virtual curves and points (see, cf. Patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-204724.
However, parametric curves used to approximate loss edges in conventional methods necessitated the designating of at least three points to calculate a virtual curve and to change the edge shape by adjusting the calculated virtual curve manually, thereby requiring complex operations. Also, designation of at least four reference points due to edge losses formed on corners of measurement objects approximated by a virtual curve and virtual points formed on the curve necessitated complex operation.